Is there anything that can be done about nightmares?

[SugarMitts]

I’ve recently (over the last 10 months or so) been having awful nightmares
They are like nothing I’ve ever experienced before in that the line between dream and awake is extremely blurred, for instance if someone grabs me in a dream and I wake up I will have tingles or pins and needles where I was touched, and sometimes I’ll be scared to open my eyes but scared to keep them closed and risk falling back into sleep so it’s like the nightmare is happening in my sleep and in real life
I’ve been screaming out or sobbing in the night a few times and DH has woke me up that I have no recollection of but I generally wake up with a huge sense of dread and have to check on people in real life because I literally feel like something bad must have happened I have such a heavy feeling

It made me not want to go to sleep at all for a long time and was choosing to sleep on the day instead while the kids were at school, because everything is less scary in the day isn’t it

Recently I’ve been working on my ‘sleep hygiene’ to try to be able to sleep in my bed at night time again, and while I’ve seen a little bit of a difference these dreams are still happening, with varying intensity

I do take antidepressants and have played around with when I take them to see if that makes a difference, and I did find the later I took them the scarier my dreams were, but I’ve been on them for years and only had this happening in a relatively small space of time so I can’t really blame them

Just wondering if anyone has anything I could do/try to see if it helps?
TIA

Sorry no idea, maybe talk to your gp but it could be that you are getting pins and needles anyway and that makes you dream you are being grabbed? Maybe if you can identify the cause of the nightmares you can do something to address that. Good luck!

Have you had any trauma in your life that you maybe haven't processed? Or adverse life events, even if it doesn't feel like trauma to you? You don't have to answer, but if you have then psychotherapy could be worth a look. Maybe talk to your GP first though in case there is something cheaper and quicker to try first.

Hmm that’s interesting @Lisiantha and the answer is possibly yes but a long long time ago, no idea why this would pop up now, as nothing at all has changed in the time the nightmares have been happening or just before 🤔

Prazosin can be effective for PTSD nightmares.

A small thing but nightmares are worse if you are sleeping on your back. I thought it was just me but there’s evidence that it’s the case.

OP, I don't have a lot of helpful advice to give unfortunately, but I could almost have written this, so I really sympathise.
I've been dealing with almost daily extremely vivid nightmares for months - years, even - with some nights being worse than others. I've discussed with my GP, and it's inevitably linked to PTSD and stress, but there seems to be little that can be done to stop it. Like you, I take an anti-depressant, which is used 'off shelf' to help with sleep issues, but it hasn't made any difference to the nightmares.
The only small pieces of advice I'd give is to try to keep your bed as clean and comfy as possible. I use a lavender night spray nightly, which I swear by. And have you tried calming background noise? An app or something similar? I find background noise is better than silence.